Artemis
by Artemis Anima
Summary: A Crow anima, like Cooro, though mute, was rescued from her village by the gang. She ends up travelling with them. Can Cooro get her to speak again? Or will she leave them to 'rid them of the burden that is herself? CooroxOC T Cause I'm paranoid.
1. Artemis the Crow

D/C:: I don't own Anima

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_The villagers... they're hurting me... Mommy, daddy, why'd you die and leave me here alone? _

The petite anima had long midnight black hair that was almost down to her feet, pale ivory skin, and wore a simple blue dress with a white apron covering it, though both were dirty from being beaten by the villagers.

"You angel of death! It's your fault the village is falling ill!"

"You took away my son, how could you, you beast!?"

"Black wings bring bad luck and death, we must destroy her!"

Artemis sat there, wings curled protectively in front of her face, hoping to block some of the taunts the villagers were throwing at her, as well as the fierce beating she was receiving.

Two villagers rushed at her, trying to pry her wings apart so they could get to the girl inside. Another man stepped menacingly toward her, knife drawn.

"Watch, everyone, as I, Takamura Ooishi, the leader of the village, slice the wings off this death bringer!"

The two villagers managed to pry her wings taut while the other villager was still walking slowly towards her. By then Artemis was too numb to care. She silently begged God, if there was one, to give her a swift death.

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"Hey look guys, a village!" The upbeat Cooro pointed out the small village ahead with excitement. "Maybe they'll have food!"

"And maybe an inn or a place where I can get some new clothes!" Nana said with shining eyes and clasped hands.

"Keh, we don't have much money so we shouldn't be spending it on needless things... Camping suits us just fine!" Husky mumbled, irritated at Nana's and Cooro's constant babble.

"Do you guys hear something?" Nana's bat ears instantly sprung out form the side of her head. "Sounds like some thing's happening in the village. And from the sounds of it, it isn't too good."

"We should go check it out!" Cooro's crow wings appeared from his back and he took off towards the village.

As soon as he laid his eyes on the circle of villagers crowded around the young girl, he swiftly dived into the middle.

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The last thing Artemis saw before she blacked out was a strange boy with wings just like hers...

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"Hey! Beating up people isn't very nice, y'know!" Cooro sounded as angry as he could, which wasn't very since it _is_ Cooro we're talking about here.

"Another Angel of Death, get him!" The men who were holding Artemis captive let go of her and she crumpled to the floor, while they rushed at Cooro.

"Eep!" _I better get us out of here_. Cooro looked over at the unconscious girl and swiftly grabbed her into his arms bridal style and flew away.

_She's a anima... they were talking about another Angel of Death... could she be a crow anima as well? I've never met another crow anima before... though we've seen other fish, bear, and bat anima, there never seems to be any other crow anima... _

The girl stirred in his arms and looked up at him. He looked down at her, and noticed that she had pretty silver eyes... No, they weren't silver, they were almost opalescent. he could notice the blue and pink sparkles in her eyes.

She caught him staring and Cooro immediately looked up, a faint blush on his cheeks. Artemis winced as they caught an updraft and were jerked to the side, unconsciously cringing into herself and clinging tightly to Cooro.

Cooro landed where he left Nana, Husky, and Senri, and pulled in his wings.

"Where've you been, Cooro? And what's _that_? Not another girl, please no!" Husky went into a fit, noticing the girl in Cooro's arms, forgetting about his first question.

"..." Senri immediately went over to Artemis and started licking a cut on her arm.

Artemis flinched away from Senri, unused to contact with other people, other than being hit or abused.

"Cooro, who's that girl? Is she an anima too?" Nana asked curiously. She really hoped she was, it got very irritating being the only girl in a group of four. She would finally have someone to talk to about girl things!

"Ah, hehe, I was flew to the village ahead, they were beating her up real bad, so I took her away from there. She's a crow anima like me!" Cooro stated with a grin.

Artemis who was still in his arms, remembered where she was and immediately started squirming around, trying to get away.

Cooro, surprised at her sudden movements, accidentally dropped her on the ground.

She sat there for a moment before opening her eyes, when she did she looked around for a moment before settling her eyes on the other three in the group. Nana took a step towards her, offering her a hand, before Artemis scrambled up and hid behind Cooro, fear in her eyes.

"I'm... sorry..." Nana said dejectedly before lowering her hand.

"You! What's your name?" Husky rudely said to her after he finished throwing his fit over another girl possibly in the group.

Artetmis just stared at him blankly, and hid behind Cooro more.

"I think she just wants some space guys, so why don't we go find some food?" Cooro suggested, pointing to the river just ahead of them.

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"Yummy, yummy, fish!" Cooro sang as he hungrily bit into his fish that Husky caught for them. "You should have some too - ah... What's your name?" he scratched the back of his head, remembering they never got a name from the mysterious anima he recently rescued.

Artemis looked around at everyone curious faces and looked down at the ground, looking to be searching for something. She found what she was looking for as she picked up a sharp stick and wrote her name in the dust.

_Artemis _

"Uwahh, what a pretty name!" Nana exclaimed, leaning towards her, causing Artemis to lean away.

"I don't like it at all, in fact I think she should leave us alone, we don't need another stupid girl with us. One's plenty!" Husky yelled, jabbing a finger at Nana and Artemis.

Artemis looked down, no emotion on her face.

"Don't mind Husky, Artemis, he hates all girls!" Cooro explained brightly. "In fact,he hates most people he just meets!" Cooro stifled a giggle.

She looked up at Cooro then quickly looked back down again. Artemis grabbed the stick she had used earlier and wrote something in the dust, then looked questioningly at Cooro.

_Bath_

"Yeah! Nana will go with you!" he nodded his head approvingly.

"Huh?" Nana looked up from the fish she had scarfed down.

"Your gonna go take a bath with Artemis!"

"Okay, let's go!" Nana Enthusiastically grabbed Artemis's hand and practically dragged her over and down the river some, out of sight of the boys.

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Down by the river, Nana had already stripped and was in the water, cooling down after a long day of travel.

"Aren't you getting in?" She questioned Artemis who hadn't even stripped yet.

Artemis just nodded and slowly began to take off her dress. When she was done, Nana gasped.

She had scars all over her arms and body! Who could ever do such a thing? She had seen Senri's and Rose's scars before but nothing ever as bad as this!

Artemis looked down, feeling Nana's piercing stares directed towards her scars, and quickly climbed into the water. She hastily scrubbed down her body, then showed her Anima and began cleaning all the blood and dirt off of her large black wings.

Once Artemis was done cleaning her wings she climbed out of the water and sat on a rock over looking the river waiting for her wings to dry.

She sat there for a while staring at the moon before she was tapped on the shoulder. Artemis jumped and looked at the person who tapped her. Phew, it was only Nana...

_Of course it was Nana, your not near the village anymore, stupid. _

She mentally sighed towards herself

"So... your a crow anima like Cooro?" Nana looked at her with a curious glint in her eyes.

Artemis nodded, unused to people talking to her anymore, and a little uncomfortable in this new girls prescence.

After a few moments of silence she retracted her wings and stood up to put on her dress. After she put on her dress again, she started walking back to camp, where the rest of the group was waiting.

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Mehhh, I would've done better but I was tired and wrote this at midnight... Please review!


	2. The Town

(Quick A/N): Thanks for all the reviews! Really kept me motivated to write this. I have to say I was worried about putting up a story in this category, as it's not exactly the most heard of Manga... Does it make me a bad author if I'm getting minors Writers block after this? xD

D/C:: I don't own Anima

* * *

The sun beat down upon the my back as the gang walked the dry dirt path. They had been walking since sunup and truth-be-told, I wasn't used to this much physical strain.

Not like I was going to complain.

Husky, Nana, Senri, and Cooro didn't _have _to take me along on their adventures. I already know what Husky thinks of me, I don't think I could stand it if anyone else thought I was a hindrance. Especially Cooro.

I couldn't explain it, I told myself it was just because he was similar to me, but I felt a strange pull towards him.

Pretty soon, a town came into view.

"Guys! Let's stop there for some food, I'm sta-arving!" Cooro exclaimed, snapping his wings open and fluttering them a few times enthusiastically. I couldn't believe it, just the thought of food got him this excited?

"Cooro... we don't have much money, it would be better if we just caught our own food." Grumbled Husky. Apparently he was against everything anyone said, unless it was he who said it. At least, that was what I had gathered of his character.

"But Husky, if we stop I can get a change of clothes!" Nana started in a happy tone, clearly excited by the idea, but then continued in a fierce voice "Do you _know_ how long I've been wearing this set of rags?" She grabbed his ear and glared harshly.

Ouch. Hate to be the receiving end of that. The villagers actually paled in comparison to Nan, for a moment there.

"Y-you got those clothes the l-last time we were in a town!" Husky stuttered just continued to glare at him. Yikes. Again with the paling... "F-fine! We can stop..." Husky gave up the argument he had lost as soon as he started it.

"... Town..." Senri said softly, agreeing with Nana and Cooro. Speaking of Cooro... I looked at him and caught him staring intently at me. Lucky for me, I'm a klutz when people focus on me, and I know it. Before you could say 'Apples' I was falling towards my doom, Also known as the Dirt path we'd been walking on for over three hours.

I clenched my eyes shut, bracing myself for the impact, surprised when it didn't come. I hesitantly opened my eyes and found myself wrapped safely in Cooro's arms. I flailed desperately, trying to get away from him. I hated being touched by other people.

"H-hey! I was trying to help!" He abruptly let go, and I found myself missing his warmth, though the sun still beat heavily on me.

As soon as I regained my balance, I scurried ahead to where Senri, Husky, and Nana were waiting ahead of us.

"Jeez, Artemis, stop distracting Cooro. He's already distracted enough without you there to help him. If we don't make it to town before noon, it'll be your fault."Husky scolded, obviously still sore from having another girl in the group. I looked down and swallowed back my tears.

We continued walking for another half hour at most, from what I could tell, until we finally reached the gates of town.

"Why are the gates closed?" Nana said, tilting her head to the side.

"'Dunno!" Cooro snapped open his wings. "But I'm going to find out, be right back!" His voice faded out as he went over the walls.

I shuffled my feet, one minute later, Cooro landed where he was a moment ago.

"They're gonna open the gate," He smirked what that's about...

The gate, as promised, lowered and we quickly shuffled into town.

As soon as we were a ways in, Nana spotted a cloth shop.

"Clothes! Quick, Husky, give me all the money we have! Artemis and I need new clothes!"

"No!"

"Give me it. _Now_."

"Never!"

A hit, a bang, and a loud, suspicious explosion later, Nana held the sack of money in her hand triumphantly.

"Come on Artemis!" She grabbed my wrist and roughly and dragged me into the shop, leaving Cooro, Husky, and Senri to stare after us.

* * *

Inside the quiet shop, I was left to my thoughts, but not for long.

_I sort of like this dress... bu-_

"Artemis! What about this one?" Nana held an elaborate dress with ruffles everywhere. _Everywhere_.

I timidly shook my head. I like dresses and all, but I wanted something more comfortable to fly in. I don't want to worry about my dress ruffling up somewhere and someone catching a peek. No. I was looking for something a bit more... _Boyish_. I guess that was the right word.

I held up a pair of Creme pants. This... I liked. I quickly grabbed a dark navy blouse and showed the pants and shirt to Nana.

"Well... not exactly my style, but I think you could pull it off..." She looked reluctant. Uh oh... I made a bad impression. Mental Face-Palm. I frowned slightly and pulled out my own pouch of money out of my dress pocket.

I smiled at the cashier as he took my money and handed me the clothes.

* * *

Nana and I walked out in our new clothes; Nana had bought a pastel pink dress with plenty of ruffles for the both of us, and a white apron to go over the plaid pattern, and then there's me.

I had on my Creme pants with my navy blouse tucked in to them, and the pant legs tucked into a pair of soft boots. I shifted uncomfortably as I felt Senri, Husky, and Cooro's eyes on me. I could feel the urge to trip inside me. Yeah, my klutziness was that bad that I get _urges_.

"Finally! Now let's go get some food," Husky announced.

On the way there, we passed by a jewelry stall. Husky's attention was diverted by the shiny-ness that was a diamond, while mine was captured on intricately carved angel-wings, made out of a fairly good sized ruby. It was about the size of my thumb and was beautiful.

"So, you seem to fancy this here jewel. I can give it to you at a steal of 40 Asterian dollars. (A/N::**I can't, for the life of me, remember if they mention currency in the manga. So, it's going to be asterian dollars and such, until someone points it out or I get bored enough to look it up.**) The stall owner said slyly.

I shook my head fervently, denying his offer. Why'd it have to be so much? I didn't have any money left, since the clothes I got were of no means poor quality.

Apparently Cooro saw this exchange as he was staring openly at me._ Again. _ That boy is so strange...

After prying Husky away from the stall, we headed on our way to the food market. While we were on our way we heard shouting behind us.

"Ack!" Cooro's eyes widened and he released his anima, as he took off in the opposite direction the stall-keeper was running.

"An Anima! GET HIM!" The guards that were stationed around the town instantly came running after Cooro's swiftly depleting of a sudden, one of the guards turned to us. "Wait, he was with you guys. Are you anima too?" He glared at us.

One of them came up and ripped my sleeves, exposing my anima marking for the world to see.

"She's one too! They must all be anima!"

I whimpered. It was the village all over again.

I snapped open my wings, trying to break the mans grip, growing more frantic by the minute, as Nana's leathery bat wings released and she hovered above us, looking down with worried eyes. I didn't expect her to help, not like she could, she didn't exactly have a weapon at all.I looked over at the quiet Senri from whom I'd only heard maybe four words at most from his lips growl and watched his arm exploded into a bears appendage.

I managed to break free when Senri swiped at the guard, and on my way flying up, I swooped by a stall and grabbed a dagger with an intricately carved hilt. I've never had a weapon before... maybe now I wouldn't be weak.

I looked at Nana and pointed to Senri and Husky who were still fending off the soldiers.

She nodded, and we both swooped downwards and I grabbed Husky, while Nana grabbed Senri. I could tell it was no easy task as I saw her flight pattern dipping every now and then, and she was sweating buckets. I looked down on the guards woh were glaring at us and yelling for the snipers and archers.I started flying as fast as my frail body could carry me.

We were soon out of range of the town and guards.

"God-Dammit! Another anima got away. Captain's not gonna be happy..." The leader of the guards said.

* * *

Well.... I whipped this up real fast, sorry for the wait, I was getting used to my new laptop and kept hitting the back space button and deleting all I had written. I got frustrated easily and we almost had a Laptop murder in my house. Cough... Erm, well, thanks for the reviews guys and, I'll do reviews after every chapter... starting now! But, please tell me if I'm being Mary-sue-ish.... I hate Mary-sues and I'd hate to be a hypocrite....

Dingo95:

It's really good!

Most of the +anima fanfictions aren't as good as this.

Please continue.

**Thank you ^_^ **

HookedOnAvatar011

Really intersting star! PLEASE UPDATE SOON!

**Thank you ^_^;**

Shitsugaikocu

Very nice story! Hope to hear more soon. :)

Oh, and if you have a spare moment, could you send a message to Miyazaki A2?

"Hi, Miyazaki! *glomps* I miss you a bunch. Scared I could not keep reading Options, but I managed to get on. Nice ending, BTW. Wish I could chat again. Say hi to leexcandy on dA for me, okay? ;) *glomps again*

3, Shitsu"

If you could drop a comment and help, I would appreciate it. If not, I understand. I will keep reading YOUR awesome story either way! :) Keep writing!

**O_O WHO ARE YOU!? I don't.... know.... you... but thanks for the review ^_^;;**


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